Hi all,
With only 15 days until the premiere of the new Doctor Who episode, “The Impossible Astronaut,” (2 WEEKS PEOPLE!) my excitement level has reached ridiculous proportions. I’ve watched all the trailers a kabillion times and it all looks fantastic. Based on speculation and rumor and not much else, I’ve compiled a list of seven things I’d like to see (or not see) this year from our favorite show.
1. NO DALEKS
From all posted reports, there isn’t going to be any classic-era monsters in the series and while I’m always up for seeing Cybermen or Sontarans milling about, I have grown incredibly tired of seeing the garbage cans with eye-stalks year after year. You know, the Daleks showed up in seven separate stories in the show’s first 4 seasons and then only eight times in the remaining 22. Why? Because people realized after a time that they lose their effectiveness the more people see them. I didn’t think they could get any less credible after “Journey’s End,” but then “Victory of the Daleks” happened and I was done. I don’t mind them showing up in little bits here and there, like in “Pandorica Opens/Big Bang,” but maybe a full series without them will restore some of their mystique.
2. WE FIND OUT WHAT THE SILENCE IS
Again, from reports, it seems that this series will deal much more directly with The Silence than did Series 5, which is great. Having a big, mysterious villain instead of all the old guard is a really great idea, but I hope we at least get some idea as to what it is. Maybe not what it wants or where it came from, just what the hell it actually is. I don’t need all the intrigue to be gone, but just a little glimpse is all I ask.
3. RIVER SONG GETS TO KILL A GOOD MAN
There’s been lots of hints throughout S5 that River kills a “good man” and it seems like it’s probably The Doctor, but I’d actually be kind of upset if it is. Part of what I really like about Steven Moffat’s writing is that it isn’t predictable. I believe he’s setting it up so that we all think it’ll be The Doctor that River ices, but is in actuality someone completely different. Hopefully, this “good man” is somebody we haven’t met yet but will have some impact later– Holy Shit! I just had a thought: What if River kills JFK? I now hope that’s the answer.
4. RORY DOESN’T DIE
Rory is a character I really grew to like during the course of last series. He’s an everyman hero, which the Doctor really hasn’t had on the crew since probably Jamie McCrimmon back with the Second Doctor, or Harry Sullivan with the Fourth. Rory started out the series being Amy’s nigh-cuckolded sad sack and turned into her 2000-year-old Auton protector. He definitely earned the hot redhead, I think. He also died a bunch of times. Give the guy a break this year. Let him enjoy being married and just hang out. Let someone else die.
5. THE EIGHTH DOCTOR SHOWS UP
This is pretty damn unlikely, but I have an idea where it could work: People who’ve seen the most recent trailer has noted that for a split second you can see Amy and Rory in what looks like the Ninth/Tenth Doctors’ TARDIS console room. I think it’d be super cool and immensely nerdy if they got transported through the TARDIS’ time stream to see the post-Time War Eighth Doctor regenerate. Why would this happen? Who knows? But I’d like it.
6. AMY POND DEVELOPS A CHARACTER AGAIN
Amy started off so strong last series and was pretty excellent until after “Amy’s Choice.” Then she became shallow and one-dimensional again. Granted, that had something to do with Rory not being around for the latter half, but Moffat making her not make any sense actually diminished the effect that she had on the story. Plus, she literally almost falls asleep while trying to broker peace between the humans and Silurians. Let’s hope marriage does her a world of good.
7. THE ELEVENTH DOCTOR CONTINUES TO KICK ASS
The more I watched Matt Smith last year, the more I liked him. Every choice he made in the role was stellar and he embodied the strangeness and brilliance of the Doctor so effortlessly. He’s said he doesn’t plan to leave the role any time soon and I for one couldn’t be happier about that. He’s quick becoming MY Doctor.
Is it the 23rd yet?
–Kanderson catches you on the flip
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LOVED this season, it only keeps getting better and better…can’t wait for season 7 to start up again!!!
I would also add no more River Song to this list but it’s OBVIOUS that that’s not going to happen. It’s not that I don’t like the plot device created by her existence I just wish she was…different. Or at least a different actress! UGH I’m so over her.
nice list…i wish the 10th doctor would meet the 11th on the show…david tennant & matt smith would be an awesome combo!
If they kill Rory off I do not think that I could watch the show anymore.
I love Matt Smith 🙂 He is MY Doctor
I agree with everything on this list. ESPECIALLY about Rory. Aside from the Doctor, he became my favorite character of the last series. Come on, he died once protecting Amy, once protecting the Doctor, guarded Amy and the Pandorica for 2,000 years and FINALLY got to marry Amy. Can we leave him be for a bit? >.<
I’m going out of the box to guess that Amy (the pesky little time changer) kills River Song to protect either the doctor or Rory.
I wish they would all live. I like the group the way it is now.
Great List 🙂
I am hoping Rory doesn’t die, but the latest image with a Roman Rory and the Cybermen (ep. A Good Man Goes to War) does not give me much hope. Poor Rory 🙁 Of course we may find out Rory has been working against the Doctor this whole time.
I am interested to see what Amy’s relationship to the Doctor really is. They say it’s life changing. I am ruling out parent or sibling since that would make this whole flirting from Amy incredibly strange and I don’t think I’d be able to watch Series 5 again. Some speculate that she’s the TARDIS, I don’t really know if she would actually be River Song since that’s just too obvious. I’m sure it will be shocking, whatever it is… at least I hope so.
My money (my very very SAD money) is that the early season death victim will be River…but because she is saved in the library, they will be able to retrieve her later in the series.
Also, because someone mentioned the Doctor’s daughter – am I the only one who thinks there is some weird link between her and Amy? All those kisses on the forehead and bedtime stories make me see the Doctor’s relationship with Amy as fatherly in a big way.
Tomorrow I stand in line all day for the East Village premiere! Ticktickticktick…!
Every time you mention Dr.WHO I have to check the calendar to make sure I didn’t miss it.
But this is a fantastic list. Agree 100%!
IIRC, theyre contractually obligated to have at least one Dalek episode a season. And depending on how a season is defined, we may wind up with 2 Dalek episodes.
“From all posted reports, there isn’t going to be any classic-era monsters in the series” – Cybermen will be returning in many episodes this year. There is footage of Matt Smith and James Corden with an old school Cybermat for episode 12 http://doctorwhospoilers.com/2011/the-2011-series/12-episode-twelve/
Is it healthy to watch the trailers dozens upon dozens of times? If not, I may have a problem.
River’s going to kill Rory.
Great list, but I had to LOL when you said SM’s writing isn’t predictable… because I’m a fantasy writer and I often predict where he’s going with his stories. Often that’s because he sets up so many clues. He’s a genius at writing though and I enjoy what he does, even when he digs plotholes. I enjoyed RTD’s writing too, partly because his stuff came WAY out of left field and I never could predict what was going to happen… yet there are complainers all over the ‘net about exactly that element of RTD’s stories. What a tribute to this show that it satisfies so many different viewers’/fans’ tastes.
I normally never agree with lists like this, but I am surprisingly pleased wit everything listed here, excluding the post-Amy’s Choice Amy hate. I actually think that, though her character was emptier (as you mention, for good reason) later in the season, the writers did a good job with her in the Van Gogh episode.
But yes, please don’t kill any companions (again- Rory, Amy and River have all already died), keep 11 kicking ass and get 8th doctor in!
There was talk back in October about Paul McGann getting a redesigned outfit for the Doctor. Maybe this is why.
I want to see his daughter come back for an episode.
Moffat did hint that a major character dies in the new series. I’m also in the “hope it’s not Rory” boat.
I would LOVE to see a Fourth Doctor cameo. I loved Tennant and Smith’s Doctor is really, really growing on me, but Tom Baker was my first Doctor and were it not for him putting the series on the map in the U.S….we probably wouldn’t even be talking about Doctor Who.
@Chris
That would have been something but unless it’s already in the can then it’s sadly not to be, what with Nicholas Courtney’s recent passing 🙁
I want to see more of the Doctor/Rory dynamic. Seeing them in the Time/Space minisodes, there appears to be a friendship that dares to make Amy the odd man out. They were funny together, and I would love to see that worked into the new series.
What i really wanna see are some more Matt Smith (oh my….so damn HOT!), and fezzes.
Aw, @Erik, you stole my thought. I totally agree that it may be Rory who River Song whacks, and while that would suck, it would also be great.
I agree with the fewer Dalek episode, and personally I could care less about the cybermen as well. They don’t really interest me, but maybe I need to go back to more of the classic episodes to get into them more.
I also agree with less River Song. While I like her, I think they’re overplaying her role. If she knows so much about the Doctor, they need to spread out her presence over the next several seasons, and maybe into the next Doctor as well.
Finally, speaking of the next version of the Doctor, while I hope to keep Matt Smith on for awhile, like 2-3 more seasons, I think it’d be interesting to get a hint from River about what he’s like. Possibly he’ll be a ginger????
I’m half thinking that the “good man” is Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart although I’m not quite sure how they could work it in.
The “Sir Alistair is a fine man, if not the best” line from “The Poison Sky” got me wondering if perhaps that is a hint.
Great list–an idea and a clarification:
1) What if three and four merge and the “Good Man” that River has to kill is Rory? Wouldn’t the be a hoot?
2)The Daleks probably would have appeared more frequently than they did between ’66 and ’89 if it weren’t for the Terry Nation factor. For a while, he outright prevented the series producers from using them, and then he had first right of refusal on all Dalek stories. As many fans know, the Rob Shearman episode “Dalek” from the 2005 series almost had to be renamed b/c the rights hadn’t been worked out with the Nation estate. Still, your general point holds true-they’re better when they appear infrequently.
I’m probably alone here, but I’d really like to see LESS river song. I get so irritated every time an episode starts and she’s leaving some complex message through history for the doctor. Or if she does appear in episodes, can she at least be at points in history where she isn’t so familiar with the doctor? I’m tired of her being so smug all the time.
Also, less Daleks yes. Though I wouldn’t mind a good cybermen episode, if they found a way to make a good story out of it (i’m also probably one of the only ones that LIKED The Next Doctor)
I can’t wait until the new season starts! I just wish I were in Chris Hardwick’s shoes…the lucky bastard.
PLEASE let Rory live. With his memory intact (now I’m scared that I even need to throw that last bit in).
YOU STOLE MY LINE. XD As I watch more and more of the classic series and rewatch the newer stuff, I have my moments with favorite Doctors (Three and Five are growing on me huge), but Matt Smith is MY Doctor. Tenant was great, Eccleston was amazing, but Matt…he GETS the Doctor in ways I’m not sure the others did. He takes away nothing and only ADDS to the wonderful other-ness of the Doctor.
I’ll add a #8 to your list: we found out why bow ties are cool in the Christmas Special. This year? Stetsons and fezzes. ;p
Oh god, please don’t kill Rory. I’m so anxious to find out who is killed off and I may throw something at my television if it’s him.
He waited 2,000 years – that should count for something!
I can never get tired of the Daleks. Because… well…. THEY’RE Daleks. But I do admit that I bought a Dalek shaped bottle of bubble bath the last time I was in the UK, so maybe they are a little bit too commercial now. 😀
I completely agree about Rory. He became a great character, although I sort of wished he were still an Auton, because that was cool.
First, a BAD,OLD,CHEESY, joke that still makes me giggle every time
Q:how does a Dalek keep his skin so soft
A: EXFOLIATE! EXFOLIATE!
Second, this series will be epic, epic I say.
Third, You know you are the nerd when your professor says to the class ” come on people, you have to be interested in something, (points to one girl) ya like sci fi, ya like Doctor Who” and you burst out laughing to a room full of silence.
Firstie…..AHHHHHHHHHH!
“EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! leave us out human?? EXTERMINATE!!!”
(great article, can NOT wait till the show starts up!!!)